Custom made European kitchen in North Tel Aviv.
Design: Tali Cohen for Yaad/official website, photography: Itai Banit
In an old building from 1968 located in Neve Avivim in Tel Aviv, we discovered a surprising 4.5 room apartment which seems almost detached from its surroundings.
This spacious 145 square meter apartment has been renovated from the ground up and redesigned in a modern European style, which creates a warm and inviting atmosphere that is very difficult to leave. Interior designer Tali Cohen Leiad, who specializes in rural and contemporary European design, lives in the apartment, together with her family members.
"One of the most significant features What defines a design style and differentiates one style from another is the type of windows used.
In contrast to modern design, which often worships minimalism and clean and smooth aluminum frames, in the European or rural design you can mainly find windows with subdivisions that give a more homely feeling, because they create a kind of subtle separation between the outside and the inside.
In cold Europe, it is very common to use wooden partitioned windows or windows that combine wood and aluminum, but in hot Israel it is more common to use Belgian iron windows or aluminum windows with glued subdivisions."
Aluminum windows with subdivisions of an "aluminum star" instead of iron windows provide the European visibility without problems of maintenance and practice/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The designer chose windows from the "Aluminium Star" company and not iron windows for reasons of practice and maintenance in a shared residential building.
Her choice of the white color and a relatively small amount of subdivisions, stemmed from the desire to prevent visual competition between the windows and the black iron railing that is outside along the length of the storefronts.
"You shouldn't give up the aesthetics and uniqueness of the subdivisions even if you don't have the budget to replace all the windows in the house. Especially when it comes to a country or European style, and when the subdivisions in the windows are very much identified with the design. A few months ago the "Kilil" company released a wonderful product: strips of Aluminum for gluing - which are applied in the factory or in the field - on the glasses themselves - using a special glue. This product makes it possible to produce subdivisions by gluing in the field on top of any aluminum - whether existing or new."
The relatively modern carpentry designed in the living room is built in a staggered manner so that the black middle part is deeper than its two white sides, in order to provide space for the electric fireplace in the center without harming the sense of space in the space.
All the joinery parts, with the exception of the TV booths and the fireplace, provide hidden storage spaces behind the touch doors.
The woodwork, made entirely of oven paint, was designed from floor to ceiling in order to create a fictitious feeling of height when in reality the ceiling is not high.
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Decorative panels and cornices combined with classic picture lamps provide a current European twist to the living room carpentry/Official website, photo: Itai Banit
"Even modern and relatively clean carpentry items can easily become an element with a European twist thanks to panels with a presence glued to the bottom of the piece of furniture, decorative cornices glued to their upper part and adding classic lighting fixtures to the picture."
The use of natural materials is very evident in the public space.
Decomposition briquettes in various shades of gray provide a background of contrast and texture to the classic sofa made of natural linen.
The beautiful living room table made of special wood, the light wooden parquet, the black natural pisbon floor, the carpet made of natural materials, the unique armchairs with the wrought iron legs and the flowing linen curtains - all these create a warm, precise and inviting space.
The use of natural materials is evident in the public space and creates a warm and inviting space/official website, photo: Itai Banit
Use of natural materials/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The spacious kitchen was designed around a family dining area and is the heart of the house.
The bright kitchen carpentry decorated with classic European elements is well emphasized through the contrast between it and the black fishbon floor, and is received as a strong and very significant element in the space.
A black fishbone floor in the kitchen as a contrast to its bright colors/official website, photo: Itai Banit
"Since the kitchen carpentry and the living room carpentry are actually located on the same axis and on the same wall, one was designed as a more classic element and the other as a more modern element, in order not to compete with each other and to produce a subtle eclecticism that preserves the harmony between the two."
Also in the field of lighting, the designer created eclectic combinations that connect old and new and classic and modern, through a combination of modern lighting strips and classic European lighting fixtures.
She is careful about this combination between the two for both functional and aesthetic reasons, as it allows for creating lighter and less dramatic spaces, which are more suitable for the Land of Israel.
"In order to create a space with a European twist that does not take over the design in a too aggressive way, it is advisable to moderate the ornamentation of the shell and the joinery with more contemporary and modern furniture. Where we have chosen very rustic and ornate joinery, we should place lighter furniture, and where the furniture is more rustic or classic, it is advisable that we produce lighter carpentry. This balance is essential to produce a space with a European appearance, but not cluttered, and more clean."
The balance of the space through the amount of ornamentation of the shell, the furniture and the carpentry/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The relatively narrow corridor leading to the rooms was chosen by the designer for space with a stylish mirror cabinet, which reflects decorative profiles that cover its other side.
Here too, in order to avoid overloading, the decorative profiles were only applied to half the height of the wall.
A stylish mirror cabinet in the hallway - which improves the sense of space/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The study room, intended for two, was designed in the shape of a reich in order to maximize the space.
The carpentry in the room is made entirely of solid oak with delicate classical decorations, which give it an inviting and pleasant appearance.
The recurring appearance of the black fishbone floor and the upholstered wooden chairs harmoniously connects the dining area to the study, which, thanks to its transparent French doors, allows the "pop-out" of those materials.
A classic study for two.
Solid oak wood and black fishbone floor/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The bathrooms were dressed in identical materials but were differentiated from each other using different shades of decorative Schlicht and bathroom cabinets in different shapes and colors.
"In designing classic bathroom cabinets, it is extremely important to maintain visual symmetry. It is advisable not to give up on it because dummy fronts can be connected into double drawers and cabinets with normal opening can be produced even when on the front they look like drawers."
The bathrooms were differentiated from each other using different shades of decorative schlicht/official website, photo: Itai Banit
The three bedrooms in the house were also designed along a similar line with repeated use of the same decorations and the same scale of colors and materials that runs between them like a second thread.
The parents' bedroom, which is not the largest room in the apartment, is decorated in pleasant and calm tones using custom made textiles, ornate carpentry and caressing curtains.
The spacious rooms of the girls and the huge windows in their room, formed an excellent starting infrastructure for planning the space.
The abundant light that enters the rooms and the view of the green trees seen from the outside, are framed into a real picture by means of the subtle subdivisions in the windows.
The textiles made of natural materials, the earthy and natural shades of the pillows, the decorative profiles on the walls and the classic decorations in the cabinets - all these created classic, pleasant and relaxing spaces for the girls.
"Also in the content worlds of architecture and design, as in any field of life, balance should be a supreme value towards which we all aim. Balance in design for me is a delicate game of proportions, and the most wonderful content world is the one in which combinations are made."
Bedrooms with a European touch/Official website, photo: Itai Banit
• Planning and interior design: Tali Cohen Liyad
• Contractors: Shlomi and Gabi Nahmias
• Carpentry: Adham Mansour
• Windows: Kochav Aluminum
• Lighting: Light In
• Furniture: Siam / Lilo Home / Dalia Armoni
• Bricks and fishbone: parquets
• Decorative profiles: Sh. Y. R. N. Profiles
• Carpet: Josephon Carpets
• Curtains: Miriam Ezra
• Photography: Itay Banit
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